"Were you the one who wrote that speech?" My son enquired after we listened to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's graduation speech to the class of 2009 at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. William, who graduated with a degree in energy and environment policies, was taken by surprise with the high environmental tone of the Secretary General, compared to the usually subdued international statements meant to please everybody, while saying nothing.

The Arab ministerial declaration on Climate Change issued by the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) at the end of 2007, has placed for the first time the official Arab finger on the climate change wound, but did not evolve yet to an action plan with specific objectives and targets.

Renewable energy is a nightmare." I was highly surprised with this statement attributed to Saudi Arabia's Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi, which made center stage in the headlines of hundreds of articles and comments in newspapers and online.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora launched the discussion about this issue by his speech at the ceremony for the presentation of the annual report of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) in Beirut last month. He considered the facts and figures presented by the report as a "slap on our faces that may awaken us to what we have caused of damage in our environment and the delay in taking corrective measures throughout the years". As he stated that debates and struggles over privileges and positions does not stop people's need for clean air, water and food and the enjoyment of nature's resources, he endorsed the inclusion of environmental accounting as a part of the national budget of Lebanon and other Arab countries.

ARAB ENVIRONMENT IN 10 YEARS crowns a decade of the series of annual reports produced by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) on the state of Arab environment. It tracks and analyzes changes focusing on policies and governance, including level of response and engagement in international environmental treaties. It also highlights developments in six selected priority areas, namely water, energy, air, food, green economy and environmental scientific research.